Celtic Monastery -- FINISHED (screwed up in the end?)

[mikedemana]

My next big scratch-built terrain piece for my 28mm Dark Ages skirmish games is a Celtic monastery. Although I drew inspiration from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Skellig Michael, this is a much, much scaled down version. In fact, after starting it, I scaled it back even further from my original plans. I like to fit my terrain pieces on wooden plaques that are no more than 12" wide or so. Once I started sketching this one out on the plaque, I realized what I would be creating would be way too big and unwieldy.



So, as I often do, I began with a soft, wooden plaque from the local craft store. This one is about 9" wide by 12" long. I used a box cutter knife to carve a slope all around the edges. I like to use these because not only are they cheap (about $1), but they also are sturdy enough for a heavy piece of scenery. Plus, many important buildings during the Dark Ages would be built on rises or small hills. The plaque gives it some visual heft above the battlefield.



I wanted the monastery to be divided into an upper section and a lower section. So, I grabbed a section of insulation foam and measured it out to fit. Then I used a sharp Xacto knife to carve a slope all around it, like I did with the plaque. I also carved out a gradual slope as a kind of ramp where it will join up with the lower level.  Yes, I know a wire cutter would be much easier, provide a cleaner cut, and look nicer. However, I am very leery about starting down the road of using toxic tools. The chemicals given off in the air when cutting foam frankly scare me. I know I could use a mask and all, but I'm going to flock it extensively anyway. So, my rough and ragged cuts will be covered up in the final product.



To secure the foam to the plaque I drilled a half dozen holes with my pin vice. I then tacky glued in straight pins. I trimmed off the tops when dry and liberally coated the surface of the plaque where the foam would go with tacky glue. The foam piece was pushed onto the pins, which help hold it in place not only while it is drying, but make the bond stronger.



Next, I took some leftover rocks from the Hirst Arts molds I used to build my Saxon church (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=50551.0) and Pictish broch. My friend Zeke cast these up for me years ago, and I have found many uses for them. I trimmed up the foam to insert the rock pieces into the edge of it so there looks to be a rocky ledge between the upper and lower sections. I am also hoping this makes the monastery look like it is in a more wild and rocky location. Once that was done, I took a section of craft foam, sometimes called "fun foam," and measured out the flat surface of the upper and lower level. A piece was cut for each and tacky glued down. This enables the buildings and other architectural elements to be "sunk in" beneath the surface. I will cut the shape of the building away from the foam surface and glue it to either the board or foam core beneath.



I wanted a church and a collection of "beehive" huts in my monastery. So, I figured I'd put the church on the upper level and the huts on the lower. Once again, I dug out my leftover Hirst Arts block to form the foundations and front and back walls of the church. The long side walls would be made to look like "dry stone" -- a common type of architecture in Celtic monasteries. I used some of the window pieces to create the doorway and tiny windows in the rear wall. More Hirst Arts blocks were used to create a well in front of the church, which was sunk into the foam base of the upper level so only the top lip of the well projected above the surface. I also peeled away the craft foam surface to tacky glue the resin Celtic cross to the foam surface of the upper level. I'm hoping that the glue, lip of the craft foam and the flocking that will be added later will keep it in place. I'll have to be careful to remind players not to pick the monastery up by the cross, though! At this stage, the monastery is starting to come together nicely.



While all this was drying, I cut out a couple pieces of foam core for the long, dry stone walls for the church. I simply covered one side with glue and then poured on Woodland Scenics Coarse Ballast (gray blend) onto it. I'd picked it out as looking a lot like dry stone, and the multiple colors in it will keep me from having to dry brush it different shades. I will put on a black wash and it should look great. I also began to work on the roof for the church. Its base was a rectangle of black styrene plastic, with succeeding levels of craft foam built upon it. I capped it with a triangular piece of balsa wood. The entire thing will then be painted with white glue and covered in the gray blend ballast to look like a dry stone roof. The picture shows the bright orange craft foam I used when I ran out of black.

I'm happy with how this is looking, so far. More updates soon...!

[Mitch K]

WOW!!!

If you are pleased with it, I'm blown away by your work. I'm looking forward to updates!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

This is looking really good, looking forward to seeing more.

[Goosegog]

Looking good. I had to look up Skellig Michael though. Then I realised what you are referring to. I really like the idea of using ballast stuck to foam.

[mikedemana]

I decided to keep focusing on the upper tier of my Celtic monastery. The above shot shows it about halfway done. The stone block foundation and front and back wall are painted. I got smart and am did the interior (see picture below) before I glued in the side walls. The side walls are not complete. I have to add more
blended gravel to the front and back edges of them, and then do a black wash over the stones to make it look more shaded. The roof is ready for its coating of blended gravel, but is not in the picture. I really like how the resin cross I bought at Cincycon turned out. I'll have to take a better shot of it to show the nice detail. The church door is done, as well. It is corrugated balsa wood with jewelry rings and pin heads for the door handles.



You can see the interior a bit better in this shot. The frescoes of Celtic saints are simply images taken from the internet and printed off and glued onto the wall. I gave the interior of the foamcore walls texture by gluing sand to it, then painting it black and drybrushing it two shades of gray (not 50). The tile floor is styrene from a local craft store. The cross is a jewelry piece from the local craft store, too. You can also see better here how I have to add gravel to the facing edges of the foamcore long walls.

I've also begun the beehive huts for the monks, but I'll cover that in the next update.

[Mitch K]

I'll look forward to it Mike - what a fantastic bit of work!

[beefcake]

That looks great. I really like it. Well done.

[Eric the Shed]

Looks brill !

[mikedemana]

With the upper tier mostly finished, it was time to begin working on the beehive huts that the monks would live in. First, a word about them. They were constructed of "dry stone" -- which means no mortar is used. The stone was apparently angled out and downwards to shed rain because, well, it rains a lot in Scotland and Ireland! What I've read about them describes them as quite dry and cozy. Anyway, they most often had strong, wooden doors. That actually surprised me. I was thinking monks, with their taste for self-denial and mortification of the flesh, would have just a cloth or fur covering for a door. Apparently not.



Anyway, I went through three separate ideas on what to use for them. My first thought was those plastic half spheres which assemble into a ball that you can buy in craft stores. I picked up a few only to discover they were too big once I started laying out the surface of my monastery. Then I went to the dollar store and picked up a pack of those little one-serving cups of apple sauce. Still too big. Finally, I settled on those dome and cap containers that you find in vending machines with little toys or prizes inside.



The first step is to use fine sandpaper to rough up the surface so that the paint will adhere better. I roughed up the interior, too, because I planned on painting the interior black.



Next, I set them down on a piece of cardboard and traced their outline. I then cut a hollow ring from the cardboard for the domes to be "based" on. I figured this would give them a more solid fit onto the clay rings I would set them on (more on these next). It would also cut down on wear and tear on the edges of the domes themselves.



I should have glued on the doors next, but got in a rush and spray painted them black first. The paint would have helped keep the doors attached, but oh well. I wanted them black so that any gaps that showed through the dry stone would look like shadow. The doors themselves were made from corrugated balsa wood. About half of the door projects downward from the dome. This will fit in the notch of the doorway of the clay ring. I wanted the huts to be removable so that things could be placed inside -- they're going to be used for skirmish games, after all! Once the tacky glue was dry, I painted each dome with white glue. I then poured Woodland Scenics coarse gravel blended gray over them to look like the dry stone. I made sure to cover the join of the door and the dome thoroughly in glue so the doors appear to be set into the stone. After the glue dried, I sprayed the stone with a clearcoat. Finally, I brushed on a heavy black wash to darken the stones and blend it all together.



The doors were easy. I did a base coat of black, then two dry brushes -- one of Camo Brown and the other Colonial Khaki. I used Howard Hues acrylics for my drybrushing because they are such thick paints. I followed that up with painting the clay rings that would be the cut stone base. I coated them black, did a dark gray wet brush and a final Rebel Gray dry brush. I wasn't sure if I'd made deep enough grooves in the air dry clay to be picked up with dry brushing, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. However, when I set the huts on top of the rings, something just didn't look right. Sure, they fit like a glove -- better than I was hoping, actually. I'd thought I was going to have to do some kind of magnet inset into the clay ring or similar to hold them down. The door as the notch and the clay ring doorway as the groove worked perfect. What didn't look right was the two different tones between the cut stone foundations (painted Hirst Arts block and the air dry clay ring) and the dry stone walls and roofs ("natural" colored Woodland Scenics coarse gravel blended gray). Even though I'd added a dark wash to "blend" it all together, I still thought the differences in tone were too noticeable. So, I decided to use the same Rebel Gray dry brush highlighting that I did on the cut stone work on the dry stone. I really liked how it tied the look all together. It was the final touch that made it appear like it all belonged together.



The last step will be the flocking. In the picture below, you can see stage one of my flocking. I painted the entire surface with a mix of white glue, water, and earth red paint. While it was still wet, I poured Woodland Scenics medium ballast over it. This smooths out the different levels a bit and roughs up the ground texture. Next up, I paint the ballast with the same water, glue, paint mixture and sprinkle on sand.



Next update will show more of the flocking, which will be a multi-step process...

Mike Demana

[Dr Mathias]

Interesting approach, thanks for posting. I like the interior on the church in particular!

[mikedemana]

So, after finishing stage two of my flocking of the Celtic monastery, I was thinking I need to come up with a new method to flock large terrain pieces. My method of applying ballast, sand, and then grass and shrubs is fine when I do something figure bases or something small. However, it takes a l-o-n-g time for 9"x12" areas. The bigger the piece, the more unwieldy it is when you're pouring the various flocking onto the base and not trying to spill it all over the desk. I have a large plastic tub I keep beneath the piece while I do this, but it is still a pain. Maybe I need to go back to trying Liquitex modeling paste for bigger pieces. We'll see.



I think at the end of stage two, the results looked okay. However, it took more than an hour to do. Maybe I just need a bigger brush or a new technique or two. I also noticed that the sand appeared lighter colored because I did not have a solid earth red color on the base. I should have added in this step and hand-painted the ground that color. My mix of glue, paint and water was obviously not opaque and dark enough to provide the customary darker, earth-reddish color that it does on my miniature bases. To fix the lighter tone, I sprinkled quite a bit of Woodland Scenics brown "turf" over it to darken it down.



And then we came to the end game, where I believe I seriously messed up the look of the model. Look at the photos, and you be the judge. I was actually happy (if not giddy) with how the monastery came out until I saw these last 5 photos. I think I really messed up the flocking. At the last minute, I decided it would look cool to have gravel or stones peeking through on the dirt path leading amongst the beehive huts and up the slope to the church. I put them on top of the flocking, and then didn't bother toning them down with a wash. I thought I could fix it by simply sprinkling a layer of Woodland Scenics "Turf" over it. When the gravel was still was too glaringly bright, I put another layer. And then when I dullcoated the whole thing, that flocking blew up and dusted the door of the church. It doesn't show up as much in person, but it sure does in the close ups of these photos.



No, I'm not going to hurl the monastery against the wall and start over. However, I am rating this build beneath the graveyard and well below the Saxon church. A disappointing end to something I invested craploads of time on. I've learned my lesson, though, to not rush things. Most of all, I have to remember to not be lazy and skip steps or the end result will suffer.

[frogimus]

Sucks about the flock on the door, but its still a great piece.  I actually like the white'ish stones on the path.  Not sure about the celtic landscape, but I live in a high limestone area and it looks completely natural to me.